


Say I Do

by Cupcakemolotov



Series: come alive [44]
Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Discussed: Masterbation, F/M, No Smut, married in vegas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 09:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14638961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: When Klaus offers her a place to stay after their unfortunate drunken marriage, Caroline says yes. Putting an ocean between her and her mother seems like the best possible outcome. But annulments takes time and secrets are hard to keep when your sharing a bed.





	Say I Do

The kitchen was a mess. Her iPad was still sitting askew from where it’d been left when Klaus’ sister had come barging in. There were papers spread across the island, and a folder that someone had sloppily written her name across the top. It was like someone had never heard of a label maker and it was an annoyance on top of irritation.

Caroline picked up the wine bottle off the counter and refilled her glass. She didn’t bother worrying about ounces and just poured until the wine was a breath away from spilling over. Across from her was the much more politely poured wine glass that didn’t even have the remains of Rebekah’s lipstick on the rim. That should have been her first warning. Caroline hadn’t learned much about Klaus’ siblings yet but they seemed to all enjoy a good drink.

The sound of keys twisting the lock were somewhat familiar now, and a sound she’d come to look forward too. She was lucky that her work could be done remotely, and her freelance editing was slowly becoming more and more reliable. But the flat was still strangely quiet when she was alone and she looked forward to Klaus’ return.

Usually.

Caroline held up one finger as Klaus stepped through the door. Without bothering to even look in his direction she hefted her glass and chugged. It was a need for air that had her putting the glass to the side. Sucking in a deep breath, she mentally apologized to the remains of the Malbec that really deserved better. The head rush cleared after a moment and Caroline wished she dared downing the rest in an attempt to get drunk.

That was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. 

Finally glancing over at her _husband_ , Caroline glared at him. He’d worn a suit to his meeting that day, and it was slightly rumpled from what looked like a long day. His tie was loose around his neck and his hair looked like he’d run his fingers through it a half dozen times. She’d gotten used to the low pangs of arousal that seeing Klaus in a variety of strangely domestic poses wrought, but it hadn’t blunted the impact just yet. Klaus rumpled, holding the take out order in one hand with a concerned expression was hot.

It didn’t lesson her irritation.  “I told you this was a _bad idea_.”

Klaus arched a brow as his eyes scanned the kitchen, face inscrutable. “I see we had company. One of my intrepid siblings?”

“Your sister,” Caroline said scathingly.

His lips pressed tightly together for a moment and he set down the food to shrug out of his suit jacket. She took a second, smaller swig of wine when he unwound his tie before approaching the counter to settled the food on the island.

“And what did Rebekah want?”

“Before or after she accused me of entrapment?” Caroline growled, nails rapping sharply against the granite. “There was a rather ridiculous claim of blackmail. What exactly does your family think you _do_ that some could blackmail you?”

Klaus hummed and snatched her wine glass, taking his own drink while she watched him from narrowed eyes. “I couldn’t say?”

She snorted. “She didn’t believe me when I said this was your fault.”

A brow arched as he handed her the glass. “How unexpected.”

Caroline propped a hand on her hip and scowled. “Are you taking this seriously? Your family things I’m some sort of southern honey trap and they dug up our marriage certificates.”

“Of course I am,” Klaus said in a surprisingly patient tone. “Rebekah is a fair bit dramatic, but I suppose she means well. I had hoped it’d take longer for the circumstances to come out, but there isn’t much that can be done now.”

Caroline reached for the bottle of wine. She should never have allowed him to coax her into spending the stretch of time of their paperwork being processed on a different continent. Embarrassed, horrified and just imagining the look on her mother’s face, she’d agreed out of desperation to avoid the judgement she’d known was headed her way. The moment she stepped foot in Mystic Falls it would have been all over the town, and she just couldn’t deal with it after the Tyler debacle.

She’d thought she might as well take a chance to travel instead of hiding in her childhood bedroom and dying from mortification, right?

They were a week and a half into the three week process for the annulment and not for the first time did she wonder about past-Caroline’s insanity. Vegas was supposed to have been a chance for her to shake off the lingering sharp edges of her broken engagement. But Bonnie had come down with food poisoning and been unable to go, and Elena had spent so much time calling Damon. There was just only so much girlfriend-voice Caroline could take before clawing out her eardrums, so she’d finally just headed down to the casinos on her own.

The very last people she’d have ever expected to run into had been Marcel and Klaus. Marcel had been an old drinking/study buddy from college who’d dated in her circle of friends, but had never really longed for her. They’d become the kind if Facebook friends who messaged when in the same city, but they rarely had deep discussions about anything.

Klaus was a friend of Marcel’s she had known peripherally for nearly as long. Early on she’d lamented once or twice that they’d never been single at the same time, but after meeting Tyler she had brushed her tiny crush to the side. He’d eventually moved back across the pond and she’d gotten engaged.

Then the first time she’d seen him in years and they’d gotten shit faced drunk and married. Caroline honestly wished she could remember who’d even suggested it. It would have made blaming someone, him or herself, so much easier.

Marcel had been zero help. He’d apparently abandoned them to their own devices when they’d started doing more than just casually flirting. He’d barely managed to avoid laughing at them the next morning, but at least had the decency to send apologies flowers later.

Caroline had learned a fair bit about her current and  temporary husband over the years, but nothing concrete. She knew he made what was apparently good money off his paintings, that he came from a large family he only seemed to tolerate on good days, and that Rebekah was his favorite. She’d know he was hot and biting smart, but she’d always been leary digging deeper least she really like what she’d found.

Now she was sharing his bed.

Caroline sighed and nudged the wineglass in his direction. It wasn’t really his fault that his siblings were occasional jerks. “How did they even find out about this?”

The paperwork on the table was definitely a copy of documentation they should have. She barely even remembered what the marriage certificate looked like. But scrawl was definitely hers if mostly drunken, and it was really annoying that Klaus’ handwriting was still so much neater than her own. It was weird seeing physical proof that she was married.

To Klaus.

She didn’t even have a ring.

“I imagine Kol helped dig it up,” Klaus said with his own sigh as he set the wine to the side. “It’s an unfortunate hobby of his.”

Caroline worried her lip. “Kol is the one who doesn’t let things go, likes to bring out embarrassing stories at family dinners?”

“That’s the one. Still, I’ll make it clear that you aren’t to be bothered. It should keep the rest of them out of your hair, although Elijah might take it upon himself to try to wrangle us to dinner. He’ll want to drone on about financials, I imagine.”

“Oh my god, is that why Rebekah was bitching about a lack of prenup?” She threw up her hands. “She had the audacity to ask me if I was pregnant.”

A slashing glance that held more self-depreciating amusement than annoyance. “I imagine next I’ll be hearing from my mother.”

Caroline blanched. “Oh no.”

Klaus laughed softly then and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I knew the risks when I invited you here.”

She covered her face with one hand. “I don’t know why I didn’t think that through. Of course your family would wonder about someone who is basically a stranger living in your flat. Your large family.”

“Blame the hangover, but if my memory serves you weren’t an easy sell. And you’re not a stranger are you?” Klaus’ gaze glittered. “You’re my wife.”

“Only for another two weeks, tops.” Caroline reminded him in exasperation. She poked him in the side. “You swore you submitted the paperwork. You can’t break a pinky promise, Klaus.”

The baffled expression on his face when she’d hooked his fingers with hers was one she’d remember clearly for years. She might have been still slightly drunk at the time, but Klaus has been surprisingly sweet about the whole thing while she’d freaked out. It’d probably why she gotten on a plane with him.

Klaus clearly bit back a smile, but his words were somber. “So I did.”

“Good.” She nodded once and hesitated. “Why is your family freaking out about money?”

Klaus shrugged a shoulder as he reached for their dinner. “I sold a few painting recently. I am curious though. Rebekah isn’t the type to give up easily. I’m surprised she wasn’t waiting for me to harangue us both. How did you manage?”

She pursed her lips, cheeks heating. Glancing up at the ceiling she refused to look at him. “I told her I was in it for the sex.”

There was a brief pause, and she swallowed at the way his voice deepened. “Did you?”

Deciding to brazen it out even with her face burning, Caroline glanced at him. His eyes had darkened, lips slightly parted as he watched her and she stiffened to hide the shiver that raced across her skin. For ten days they’d shared his bed and lived in each other’s lives, but Caroline had vetoed sex. It was bad enough that she had to sleep next to the heat of him, the mingled scent of his preferred cologne and soap lingering on the sheets. Caroline didn’t know how he was dealing with the tension but she’d tucked away a small, discrete purchase. Her only complaint was his flat lacked a bath. Taking a deep breath, she pushed away those thoughts until tomorrow when she could actual do something about them.

“Yup. Siblings don’t really seem to enjoy hearing about each other’s sex lives.” She waved her hand. “A few explicit details and she couldn’t scatter fast enough.”

His lips curved just high enough to carve out a dimple, and Caroline’s toes curled into the floor. “I thought you didn’t remember much of our marriage night, hmm?”

She didn’t. What she did recall was in mere flashes. His uneven breath on her skin. The sting of his teeth on the curve of her breast. Her name ragged on his tongue. It’d been drunk, sloppy sex but it’d clearly worked for her at some point.

“I may have exaggerated,” she said with a shrug. “You’re welcome.”

Instead of laughing as she’d have expected, Klaus crowded closer, his gaze unblinking. “Tell me Caroline, are you satisfied with that?”

She licked her lip, fingers curling into her palms as his gaze tracked the movement. “What are you asking?”

“You moaned my name last night.”

Her face went hot and Caroline fervently wished she’d drank more of the wine. She wasn’t even tipsy, and she wasn’t prepared for this kind of situation when sober. She made a low noise of embarrassment and he caught her elbow lightly to keep her from backing away. The heat in his gaze hadn’t lessened, and his eyes dragged along her embarrassed face with what might have been affection.

“No need for such mortification, love. I’ve struggled to keep your name off my lips more times that I’d usually care to admit when I’ve had my hand wrapped around my cock in the shower.” His fingers grazed her skin as his hand fell away, and that patch of skin burned. “It’s a bit of a relief to know I’m not suffering alone.”

The heat in her cheeks didn’t lessen at his words, and it worsened the burn low in her belly. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head slowly. “Sex complicates things.”

“Oh, I agree that this situation is plenty complicated. But wanting you isn’t.”

Caroline blinked. “What?”

His brow arched. “I am not spontaneous, Caroline, and rarely am I reckless. Obstinate, certainly. I’m sure you’ve picked up on a number of flaws these past ten days. You’re organized, methodical, and you hate surprises. Aren’t you at least a tiny bit curious why we drunkenly agreed to get married?”

The glib answer of temporary insanity wouldn’t move past her lips. Not with the way he was watching her, his words hanging between them. “It’s been ten days. Why bring this up now?”

“Because our marriage will be annulled, and we both agree that is for the best. Any commitment made should be done sober and with full awareness.”

She nodded slowly.

Klaus’ hand lifted and his thumb smoothed across her chin. “But I’m loath to let you simply disappear from my life. Again.”

Caroline’s brows drew sharply together. “What do you mean again? You were always dating when we hung out.”

“So were you.”

She pursed her lips and considered that she might not have been the only one quietly harboring feelings. Shaking her head clear of thoughts that she could analyze later, she cleared her throat. “So what, you want to date?”

“To start,” Klaus agreed easily. “But right now? We both need to eat and then we can talk about the myriad of questions I know you have. We’ve both been avoiding certain topics, and I think it’s time to clear the air. Because regardless of what this becomes, you being here is hardly a bad idea.”

She swallowed and hesitantly nodded. Ten more days or so, and if things went terrible she could put an ocean between them and never look back. A large part of her was still mortified by both the marriage and his bringing up her saying his name, but the rest of her was really intrigued by the picture he’d painted of himself in his shower.

“Okay.”

“Good,” he murmured as he passed her chopsticks. Leaning a tad forward, he dragged his gaze along her lips and his voice dipped lower as he rumbled his next sentence. “And if at any point you rethink that stance of yours on no sex, Caroline, I’d be delighted to give you any number of stories to horrify my sister with.”

Klaus walked away then, and she stood silent with her thighs clenched tightly together, skin aching. Taking a centering breath as she grabbed her carton, she headed to the couch with a set expression. Depending on what he had to say, sex was probably very likely in their near or immediate feature. She’d only been firm about keeping things platonic when she thought she was the only hiding feelings.

That didn’t seem to be case.

That didn’t mean she had to make it easy on him.


End file.
